Posted on 05/12/2015 4:32:34 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Major General H.W. Blakeley, USA, Ret., 32d Infantry Division World War II
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
#1 - “My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time” - Les Brown, with Doris Day
#2 – “Sentimental Journey” – Les Brown, with Doris Day
#3 - “Candy” - Johnny Mercer, with Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers
#4 – “There! I’ve Said It Again” – Vaughn Monroe
#5 – “My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time” - Johnny Long, with Dick Robertson
#6 - “Caldonia” - Woody Herman
#7 – “Laura” – Freddy Martin
#8 - “I’m Beginning to See the Light” - Harry James, with Kitty Kallen
#9 - “Chloe” - Spike Jones, with Red Ingle
#10 - “Bell Bottom Trousers” - Tony Pastor, with Ruth McCullough
#10 - “Dream” - Pied Pipers
* Stalag Luft I, at Barth, Germany, is where Homer’s uncle was imprisoned from Jan 11 1944 until May 1 1945.
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/4/12.htm
May 12th, 1945 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Frigates HMCS Loch Alvie, Nene and Matane departed Clyde with Convoy JW-67.
Frigate HMCS Stone Town and corvette HMCS Humberstone departed Londonderry with escort for Convoy ONS-50.
GERMANY: OSS agent Robert Matteson and two other agents capture Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Himmler’s deputy after Heydrich’s assassination. The special operation was ordered after intelligence that he was organizing ex-SS men to form a resistance. (William L. Howard)
BURMA: Rfn Lachhiman Gurung (b.1917), 8th Gurkha Rifles, threw back Japanese grenades until one blew off his right fingers. He then fired his rifle with his left hand for four hours. (Victoria Cross)
NORTH BORNEO: Cpl John Bernard Mackey (b.1922), Australian Military Forces, overcame two posts - one a heavy machine gun - and died charging a third. (Victoria Cross)
PACIFIC OCEAN: Hundreds of kikusai [floating chrysanthemums] airmen are committing suicide in a vain attempt to “annihilate” the American invasion of Okinawa. Up to yesterday no less than six major kikusai attacks, using a total of 1,092 suicide pilots as well as conventional air attack, had been mounted. Swarms of the body-crashing kamikazes have also assaulted the Allied carrier task groups covering the Okinawa operation. During the sixth mass attack on 11-12 May the fleet carriers USS BUNKER HILL and USS ENTERPRISE were hit. The Bunker Hill suffered very heavy casualties, with 392 dead. Next day the battleship USS NEW MEXICO was hit. The British Pacific Fleet again came in for its share of suicide attacks when it returned to the task of neutralizing the Sakishima Islands. On 4 May HMS Victorious and HMS FORMIDABLE were hit and on 9 May HMS Victorious and HMS FORMIDABLE (again) were hit. The carriers suffered little damage, the kamikazes crumpling on their armoured decks.
A reinforced company from the U.S. Army’s 27th Infantry Division occupies Tori Shima located west of Okinawa. The two Japanese on the island jump in to the sea as the Americans approach.
CANADA: At the end of hostilities on 11 May 45, U-190 reported its position as 42-35N, 43-05W, at 1001GMT. HMCS Victoriaville and Thorlock were detached from inbound Convoy ON-300. Incorrect information about U-190’s position and course at first put them off the track. Homing on U-190’s radio transmissions, U-190’s steaming lights were sighted at 2303GMT some 500 miles east of Cape Race. HMCS Thorlock went alongside at 2340GMT on 11 May. It was found that they had followed orders by jettisoning secret documents in weighted bags, and by disposing of all ammunition - even the acoustic torpedoes. The White ensign flew from U-190 at 0001GMT on 12 May. All of U-190’s crew with the exception of 9 engine-room personnel and 3 upperdeck watch keepers were transferred to the corvettes. By 0200 the contingent was steaming at 9kts for the Bay of Bulls Nfld, where it arrived at 0600GMT on 14 May. HMCS Prestonian delivered the fifty-four prisoners to Halifax on 16 May. Subsequently taken to Halifax, U-190 commissioned into the RCN on 14 May 45 as HMCS U-190. Lt DW Pope RNR took command of the boat 25 Jun 45 before she left St John’s. Pope’s XO was Lt KC Tyron RCNVR, senior Canadian aboard. Testing and evaluation were carried out. Paid off on 24 Jul 47, and on 21 Oct 47 U-190 was sunk by Canadian Naval a/c near the position where she had sunk HMCS Esquimalt. The intent at the time was to have Naval a/c, 8 Seafires, 8 Fireflies, 2 Ansons, and 2 Swordfish attack U-190 with rockets and this was to be followed by HMCS Nootka, Haida, New Liskeard which would bombard U-190 with guns and Hedgehog. Almost before the ships, had a chance to enter the act, U-190 pointed its bows into the air after the first rocket attack and slipped silently beneath the sea.
U.S.A.: Washington suspends Lend-Lease shipments to the USSR.
Cape May, New Jersey: U-858 is steaming here under escort. Tomorrow she will come into port flying the black flag of surrender with most of her crew on deck. She will be the first U-boat to surrender since Admiral Dönitz ordered his fleet to cease hostilities just over a week ago on 4 May.
Dönitz has agreed to the Allied demand that the U-boats should surrender rather than be scuttled in the German navy tradition. However, many of the commanders of the 377 U-boats still at sea bitterly resent his order. They are preparing to scuttle their boats or sail them to neutral countries to avoid the humiliation of surrendering to the enemy.
Destroyer USS Orleck launched.
Submarine USS Sea Devil commissioned.
Destroyers USS Fred T Berry and Gurke commissioned.
Escort carrier USS Kula Gulf commissioned.
“An iron curtain is drawn down upon their front.” Churchill in his famous telegram to Truman.
http://www.executedtoday.com/2010/10/24/1943-leonard-siffleet-world-war-ii-beheading-photo/
Famous picture of Australian commando Leonard Siffleet being executed on page 4.
From the stacks above page 8.
GIVES CHARITY $1,000,000
Mrs. Shepard Bequeaths Philadelphia Estate to Welfare
Special to the New York Times
PHILADELPHIA, May 11 – Practically the entire $1,000,000 estate of Mrs. Lula Shepard, descendant of a colonial family, who died May 4 at her home here, would go to charity.
She bequeathed $36,000 to five relatives . . .
The residuary estate, the will directed, is to be used for some worth Christian, white Protestant known as memorial for Thomas (her husband who dies in 1896) and Lula Shepard. Her only stipulation was that it shall be “located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and shall be for worthy Christian, white Protestant beneficiaries only.”
Wow, even for 1945 that is amazing that someone in Philadelphia would make such a stipulation of “white only”. I did a search and came up with this scholarship at Temple University, college of Liberal Arts.
Thomas and Lula M. Shepard Memorial Scholarship
Established in 1975 by the estate of Mrs. Lula Shepard, this scholarship is given to undergraduate students majoring in religion, with preference given to students interested in the ministry.
Interesting that at the beginning of the 20th century she outlived her husband by 49 years. I could not find any othe references about them.
After the War one of the big Philly hotels, used by the Dodgers for years, refused to honor a reservation if Jackie Robinson was staying with the team. The Dodgers moved to a different hotel.
And so, the cold war begins before the hot war is even over . . .
I date the Cold War beginning in 1944, when Stalin set up his puppet “Lublin Committee” of Poles in opposition to the internationally legally recognized Polish Government in Exile based in London. At that point it was clear to all just how things were going to be.
With the Red Army in possession of Poland there wasn't anything we could do about it other than the repeated pleas to abide by Yalta sent by Churchill and Roosevelt and then Truman.
Low turnout today compared to recent weeks.
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